Last night, the Louisiana GOP held presidential nominating caucuses. It had to be the most convoluted caucus process yet, and it has been difficult to get information on who might have scored delegates to the national convention out of the process.
Unlike other GOP caucuses, Louisiana did not conduct a "straw poll" of its caucus attendees, so there are no percentages to report as to presidential preferences of those who went.
However, those who attended voted for delegates to county conventions, which in turn will select delegates to the state convention, which in turn will determine who goes as Louisiana's 47 delegates (about the same number as highly contested Florida) to the national convention. If a majority of delegates at a particular caucus site voted in their slate, then the candidate supported by that slate will ultimately get some delegates to the Big Dance in September.
As best we can tell, Ron Paul supporters enthusiastically attended the caucuses and voted for their delegates. Many Paul supporters, in web-posts, suggested that they had enough votes to win a majority of the delegates at their caucus sites. The Republican Party of Louisiana, however, reports that a slate of "uncommitted" delegates under the banner of "pro-life/pro-family" swept the caucuses in all congressional districts (subject to resolution of disputes over some provisional ballots) and will thus control which candidate gets support from Loosianans.
As best we can tell, the "pro-life/pro-family" slate represents a coalition of candidates, excluding Ron Paul, but including McCain, Romney, Huckabee and Thompson. If that's so, how they'll divide up the spoils--smoke-filled back room?--is pretty unclear. Here's a sample ballot from the pro-life slate, featuring a photo of Ronald Reagan and urging voters to "[k]eep the Republican Party focused on Ronald Reagan's values of less government, more freedom, strong families and a strong national defense." Well gosh, who could be against that--maybe they should run in every state!
Louisiana is also holding a non-binding primary on February 9. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in that primary, then he will win 20 of Louisiana's delegates (the at-large and bonus delegates). Otherwise, those delegates will be "uncommitted"--but will be picked by the mysterious "pro-life/pro-family" delegates who won out last night.
Of course, the pro-life slate will ultimately have to figure out who they really support, which could lead to all kinds of squabbling.
Bottom line: we won't know who's gotten delegate support from Louisiana until after the state convention on February 16.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Hey I am one of the Delegates who ran in district 4. As of now the Pro-Life Slate has the majority. The ROn Paul people forgot about the districts, and only looked at votes from each meeting place, but didn't add them together. So depending on the provisional ballots, the Ron Paul people will probably not get very many people at all. They only had one on our ballot, and none of the others were even close.
Mr delegate from district 4, are you not ashamed to be a part of this ridiculous and insanely un-American 'bundle' of candidates?
Clearly the establishment candidates in your bundle are trying to rig the election against the true winner, Dr. Paul.
You obviously seem to think that this is a brilliant political strategy and not an un-ethical and down right dishonest political powergrab.
This chicanery is not going to work. You can't fool all of the people all of the time, death to American Empire, and rebirth to the American republic will not be impeded, the patriots will will never rally around any of these other turds being offered by the warmongering neocons.
Besides noone is more pro-life than Dr. Paul
What a travesty, If anyone would simply take the time to look at Dr. Paul's record and quit listening to what the neo-conservative pundits have to say, then we may just return this country to the great nation we know it can be.
Ron Paul 2008!!!!
Come on people
Look at the records!!!!!
If this is indeed true that the GOP banded together to say, "I'd rather have no-one get our delegates if Ron Paul is about to get them" then I am switching my party once and for all. The old boy network is something we all need to get away from in politics and Ron Paul stands for that in every essence of the word. Again, if this is coalition against Ron Paul is true then it really shows how the Republicans feel about the threat to their wallets if Dr. Paul's is able to dismantle this money mongering political parade of stupidity.
The best way for anyone to help stop this from happening is to get involved. Ron Paul's campaign is a dedicated group of pure volunteers and right now they are looking for precinct leaders in every county in the United States. It's a good cause because it is a cause for your freedom and your money. Let's keep our hard earned dollars in our own pockets and out the government hands. Anyone who fights against Ron Paul's message is against the Constitution. Ron Paul stands for the Constitution and stands for the people’s rights, not the government’s rights.
One other thing, it's sad that the only outlets available to get this information on the craziness in Louisiana is from this blog and from Bubba the Love Sponge on Sirius. If something like this were to happen to Mitt Romney, Fox News would be all over this like a priest in a Boy Scout troop meeting.
Mr. District 4,
You are no friend of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution calls for fair and free elections. Think about that. Fair and Free.
If the majority of the American people vote one way but a small group ban together and use tricks to change the vote the other way, well then you and the others are all traitors to the United States Constitution.
Since when do the candidates for any U.S. Election gather together to ban against one other candidate? This would considered by the U.N. to be against International Law.
I can live with losing an election. It's doesn't matter who you or I or anyone supports in an election. We shoud all be guardians against any form of election control. And that is EXACTLY what this is. No excuses.
But one last thing. There is the God factor to consider. God loves America and he will protect it. I believe that Congressman Ron Paul is the only honest presidential candidate running. Well, don't be surprised when against all odds, against all logic. Against all media blackouts,debate exclusions and caucus tricks God steps in saves our election,our candidate and our country.
He's done it before and he'll do it again.
Let's just say for the sake of argument that Paul folds here in the next few primaries...
Who do Paul supporters consider their second option? Or do they?
In states where it is possible to write in candidates, many dedicated Ron Paul supporters will write in Dr. Paul's name regardless of whether he wins the nomination. In states where write ins are not possible (due to electronic voting or state election statutes), I think many will simply not vote. I personally would rather not vote than vote for a corrupt politician. I may not be able to be part of the cure, but I'm darned if I'll be part of the problem!
I can't believe you state that Ron Paul, who is not only a Physician but was also a Med-Vac flight surgeon in the Vietnam war, is not Pro-Life.
Who are you trying to fool? Not only has Ron Paul been studying economics for years and making many statements for years that now some of his fellow candidates are copying, he also cars for this country. RonPaul2008.com
Post a Comment